


Awkward Sometimes

by pushupindrag



Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-20 11:04:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3647946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pushupindrag/pseuds/pushupindrag
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky and Steve live in opposite buildings and often see each other through each other's windows.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <i>They see each other at least once a day through each others bedrooms windows across the walkway the two buildings shared. Mainly because Steve was an early riser and liked to open and close his curtains whilst Bucky never really saw fit to close his own.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Awkward Sometimes

**Author's Note:**

> I saw one of the prompts (the 'we live in halls opposite each other and I keep seeing you get changed' one) on [this](http://swingsetindecember.tumblr.com/post/100037035937/damespook-kingtrager-queerlullaby%20) post and just had to write it even if it got a little bit away from me.
> 
> Un-beta'd so any mistakes are purely my own, so please tell me if you find any :)

They see each other at least once a day through each others bedrooms windows across the walkway the two buildings shared. Mainly because Steve was an early riser and liked to open and close his curtains whilst Bucky never really saw fit to close his own. It got awkward sometimes.

Steve had just finished up his paper detailing a brief period of the renaissance, and when he had last checked it was time for bed, so he couldn't imagine how late it had gotten. Stretching, he walks over to the bedroom window to close the curtains before sacking out for the night when he spots his neighbour, the cheeky good looking guy who had a habit of walking around shirtless all the damn time. Today was no different.

It doesn’t help that the guy flashes him a smile when he catches Steve at the window, and just grins wider when Steve rolls his eyes, pushing his glasses back up his nose before shutting the curtains.

Bucky was completely smitten with the grumpy guy across the way. He would admit that to himself only, but acceptance was the first step. Falling back onto his bed he smiles again, thinking about the disgruntled look on the guys face, it was adorable and Bucky was completely gone.

Bucky enjoyed seeing his neighbour some mornings and most evenings, it was even better if the guy was in a rush and running around shirtless. He knew he was a creep, but honestly the guy was just a scrawny ball of awkward that Bucky let himself be happily drawn to. They hadn’t spoken, but Bucky classed their occasional silly faces and the guys eye rolls as enough. Natasha thought he was pathetic, but approved of his approach of walking around half naked even if it didn’t work. She probably just liked to watch him suffer and get cold.

//

The next week sees a stressed Steve. His art history teacher was a complete jerk who demanded essay after essay, whilst the studio space he shared was nearly always taken up, meaning that he spent a lot of time in his cramped dorm room, Sam coming in regularly to check that he was still alive. Steve appreciated it.

"Steve man, you’ve got to eat something" Sam glares from the doorway, looking at the mess if a bedroom. There was paint covered paper on ever available surface and Steve looked tiny in the center of it all  
“I will later” a distracted hand wave “I’ve got to get this little bit right”  
“No you have to eat now. You can be creative later come on.”  
“Sam, I need to get it finished”  
“You can, LATER!” Sam despaired most of the time, but there were ways around Steve. If he waited in the room long enough Steve would feel guilty and eventually go and eat so he starts walking. Dodging around the works to bounce on the bed, look at the walls, have a nosy at what Steve was playing through his speakers and to be nosy and have a look out of Steve’s window to see if shirtless guy was still there because he enjoyed watching the guys disappointed look when he saw that it wasn’t Steve. Call him cruel, whatever.

Today is no exception and he waves, earning a halfhearted wave back from the dark haired man along with a ‘what can you do’ shrug. He liked the guy, even though Steve complained about him constantly. Sam knew the truth, and Steve’s crush was glaringly obvious.  
“Okay, fine let’s go and eat.” The guilt had finally gotten to Steve  
“I knew you’d come around!”

Steve trudges back to his room once he and Sam had had their fill of greasy junk food. He felt sluggish and tired, the day of work had been stressful and all he needed to do was sleep. Eyelids growing heavy, he strips as he walks into his room, setting aside some work gently before climbing under the covers. He fell asleep instantly.

Bucky had not been expecting Steve to strip when he was hopefully looking out of his window one last time before trying to sleep. It was both great and terrible because now Bucky knew how good Steve looked without a shirt on, but he also felt like a massive creep. It was one thing to walk around without a shirt on and another to get undressed with the curtains open accidentally.

Guilt wrecks his conscience as he pictures Steve without a shirt, bones looking brittle under his pale skin, a hint of boxers on show as the blonde had shuffled past. Bucky was totally going to hell. He too falls asleep, feeling terrible about picturing himself marking up Steve’s chest with hickies but doing so none the less. Natasha and Clint were going to laugh at him mercilessly.

//

When laughter does indeed greet him the next day he just groans and pushes his head into his hands, curling himself around his history book.  
“I can’t believe you watched him!” Clint crows, slapping his hand down onto the wooden table they’re sitting at. Natasha’s smirking openly at him  
“Never thought you were actually a creeper James, gotta give you credit where credit is due”  
“I didn’t mean to look at him!” Bucky defends, scowling “I was going to bed and passed the window, it wasn’t my fault!”  
“Sure it wasn’t” Clint snorts, Natasha nodding along with him “Sure it wasn’t.”

//

It happens again the next morning. Bucky’s just woken up, and goes to walk to his dresser to get clothes when he glances out of the window to see the scrawny man in a various state of undress. Except this time, the guy’s frantic in finding clothes to change into and before Bucky’s sleepy brain can get him to turn away, Bucky has totally seen the guys naked ass. He startles so hard that he jerks himself and collapses onto his bed.

He was now a bonafide creeper, fuck his life.

Steve was astoundingly late. Sam was dragging him to a party at Romanoff’s place on the Saturday so he only had three days to finish his two assignments while only half of his pieces were actually dry. And now he was late for his limited studio time so he was in a rush. He practically brains himself as he tips over getting dressed, but catches himself and makes it out the door with seconds to spare.

The day would set the routine for the upcoming three days. Steve would eat a minimum amount, sleep a minimum amount, and grunt at Sam instead of answering properly. He fell asleep during one of his classes, ended up crashing at the studio space one evening and had Sam whack him over the head for not eating. Not the best three days of his life.

//

"You look like you need to sleep man" Sam remarks, steering him down the path that led to the noisy block of dorms.  
“Well maybe if you let me and didn’t drag me to this party then I would!” He grouches back, folding his arms as they waited for the lift. At least Sam knew to keep his shitty lungs in mind.

"Have you lost weight?" Sam was taking the time to look Steve over. He worried an immense amount about his best friend. The shorter had a stupid habit of not taking care of himself, and the skinny jeans the guy was sporting looked a little too loose.  
“No I haven’t, have you been sleeping properly?” Steve fires back, sneering because Sam was nothing is not brilliant at self care and management. Of course he had been sleeping properly and looked perfectly fine as a result.  
“Come on wheezy” the lift had opened, and Sam stepped inside, grinning at Steve  
“Fuck off.” He was smiling anyway.

Natasha was both watching and enjoying her party. Clint and Bucky were trying to out drink each other, a small group of people watching them smack talk each other, and there were groups of people drifting from room to room, each nodding or waving to her as she nursed her vodka. She made a point to greet each guest, and decided she would wait to get hammered, watching drunk people was kind of one of the funniest things ever and she didn't want to miss out.  
“Barton! Pace yourself!” She calls, giggling under her breath while Bucky did the same loudly. Bucky was well on his way to being completely drunk so she’d have to watch him. Just out of courtesy for all the times he’d let her crash on his couch.

“SAM!” She shouts across the steadily filling room. Sam was in her law class and both had been planning this party for a while. Mostly due to their friends being complete idiots.  
“Natty!” He laughs back, dragging a skinny man behind him.  
“You must Steve” Natasha smiles, taking another sip of her drink  
“And you’re Natasha, hi!” He holds out his hand, an oddly old fashioned gesture that she appreciates  
“Drinks are in the kitchen, Thor’s playing beer pong somewhere and fucking up the rules. Tony are Pepper are trying to explains the rules to Thor and Bruce is probably long gone” She explains her groups whereabouts, Sam knowing most of them by name alone if nothing else, Steve just looked bemused “Clint and Bucky are trying to out drink each other there if you’re interested” She finishes her spiel, winking at Sam before letting them disperse. They’d reconvene later.

“What was that? Steve demands as he makes his way to the kitchen in search of a beer, deciding to have one or two but no more if he wanted work done tomorrow. Sam tried to look innocent, but he wasn’t fooling anyone. “I know something’s up, so you better just tell me”  
“Nothing’s up, you haven’t seen me flirt before? I’m ashamed Rogers”  
“No that wasn’t flirting, because you think she’s out of your league, that was plotting!” Sam just swigs from his bottle, causing Steve to do the same.  
“You’re being paranoid” Sam shrugs, then completely leaves Steve to go and dance as the music is turned up a notch. Steve wasn’t paranoid, he knew something was going on but he couldn’t figure out what.

Steve lets himself drift through the rooms, glaring at Sam and Natasha as he passes them into the room that was currently a beer pong arena.  
“Hey Steve” Pepper calls from where her and her boyfriend Tony are trying to explain the ‘new’ rules to a very confused crowd. Steve knew Pepper from his art history class and cheerfully waves. Deciding to watch, he sits on the floor against the wall by the door. Thor, the large blonde exchange student was loudly and rapidly conferring with Tony who kept bemoaning the absence of somebody called Bruce  
“He would know how to sort all of this”  
“Shut up Tony” Pepper rolled her eyes, but then took pity on both Tony and Thor and decided the new rules for them.

She comes over to sit beside Steve when everything gets set up  
“What’s up?” She questions “Not that this game isn’t riveting” They both snort “But normally you’re with Sam or socializing or something”  
“Sam’s plotting something for me and I don’t want to be there when it happens” Steve tells her and she nods understandingly, hair swinging around her shoulders.  
“Well you’re welcome to keep me company, I may just fall asleep”  
“You were dragged here too?”  
“Obviously” another snort “Tony said we weren’t-oh hold on” She gets up, straightening her dress “BOYS!”

Thor and Tony were glaring at the group who had started shouting obscenities in regards to Pepper, and Steve thinks he hears something in there about him being gay too.  
“You guys gonna shut the fuck up?” He growls, standing too to get beside Pepper. Thor must catch him rolling his shoulder, preparing for afight because he gets in front of everybody.  
“You” He points to the group of boys, their smirks dropping as Thor stops being friendly “Leave.” It’s all it takes and the boys scurry out.

“Well that ruined the game” Tony sniffs before turning on his heel to fuss over Pepper while Thor clamps his hand onto Steve’s shoulder. Steve winces but takes it, smiling up at him  
“Thanks man”  
“Anytime. Natasha warned us about your affinity for fights”  
“Natasha and Sam have big mouths” Steve shrugs. “You guys want me to get you any drinks?”  
“We’re good” Pepper and Tony chorus, so Steve and Thor go and get drinks for theselves.

“Where’s Steve?” Natasha asks from the other room “James’s still in the corner”  
“He disappeared when I came to talk to you”  
“Hmm”  
“Wait” He watches as Steve and Thor walk into the kitchen “Okay, call Bucky over. I’ll grab Steve when he comes past.”  
“It’s a plan.”

The world was spinning. Clint had doubled, and the ceiling and floor where slowly switching places. He felt great.  
“James!”  
“Nat?” He thought it was Natasha. Natasha was the only one who called him James. He sees her head of hair in the crowd so he makes his way over, stumbling a little. Not much though. She’s standing with some dude, so he’s polite and waves, or he thinks he does. He might not have.  
“Yes, you waved” The guys smiles kindly. He liked this guy. He wasn’t laughing at him like Natasha was. Scary fucking Russian. He tries to focus, eyes swimming a little. And he’s so busy that he doesn’t notice the guy calling someone else over.

It was the guy in the opposite window  
“Y-you’re the guy who I, I saw get changed!” He shrieks, grinning. The little guy was cute and looked a little shocked. His eyes were so, so blue. Bucky lurches to lean himself against the guy. Because he liked the guy, he was totally cute and looked good under his clothes. “Hi! ‘m Bucky” He grins, resting his head against the others.

This was a very new development for Steve. The guy across from him was apparently named Bucky, and Bucky had apparently seen him get changed and thought he was ‘cute’ and looked good. He untangles himself from the drunk man, skirting around him to let him lean against the side of his head instead of his forehead. Steve’s blushing hard enough to light up the damn room.  
“I fucking hate you both!”  
“No you really don’t” Natasha just smiles, faux innocently at him and he glowers, trying not to pay attention to Bucky who was breathing happily down his neck. It was distracting, and he was trying hard not to look at Bucky out of the corner of his eye.  
“Is he staying here tonight?” Steve questions  
“No” Is the simple answer from Natasha “And I can’t take him home because I don’t want anyone to trash my dorm”  
“Sam?”  
“I’m getting stupidly drunk so it’s a no go” Steve looks around for Thor who had slipped away  
“Seriously, fuck you all.”

So it was up to him to take Bucky home, great.

“I’m staying a bit longer, but I guess I’ll take him home” Steve relents, and just like that, Sam and Natasha have left to go somewhere and left him with Bucky.  
“Wha’s your name?” Bucky slurs, standing a little straighter so he can look at Steve  
“My name’s Steve” He wasn’t drunk enough for this  
“Nice to meetcha” Steve thinks that Bucky’s trying for flirty, but in his state it just comes out goofy, and possibly a little endearing. Especially with the way that Bucky wouldn’t let go of Steve’s arm.  
“Let’s go and find people” Steve suggests and Bucky perks up  
“CLINT! Le’s go an find Clint” So Steve walks after a stumbling Bucky who smiles widely back at Steve any chance he gets. Steve was screwed

They find Clint. And Steve has to suffer through an extremely slurred conversation before deciding it just wasn’t worth it and to take Bucky home. He manages to get his phone out from his pocket while Bucky wound himself around him, to text Sam  
  
Steve (own number): Going, fuckin traitor  
Sam: u luv me, get bck safe  
Steve (own number):Will do

“Come on Bucky, we’re going”  
“Home?”  
“Yes”  
“’kay.” Bucky was an affectionate drunk, so he keeps his arms wrapped around Steve as they walk, not enough to hinder Steve’s walking but enough to support himself and carry on breathing down Steve’s neck in a distracting fashion. Steve could admit his attraction, and the guy wasn’t as cocky as Steve had thought, even if he was off his face.

Bucky slumps against the wall in the lift, taking Steve with him who lets himself be squished against the tallers chest. It was nice, and he knew that the protests he put up were completely for show. And he knew that Sam knew that, which was infuriating.  
“You’re little”  
“I know” Steve couldn’t scowl, he tried but he couldn’t  
“’s ‘dorable”  
“Thanks.”

They get out of the lift and Bucky rearranges himself so his arm is right around Steve’s shoulders with Steve’s arm around his waist.  
“Where we goin’?” Bucky stumbles a little on the paving stone but stays upright  
“Your dorm”  
“Ya comin’ wi’ me?”  
“No” Not in the way that Bucky thought  
“Oh” He sounded disappointed so Steve reaches up to pat his cheek, smiling a little.

Reaching Bucky’s block, they use the lift again, without any cuddling this time which is a slight disappointment, and make it to Bucky’s room. Bucky manages to get his keys out, passing them to Steve who lets them both in.  
“Steeeeeve” Bucky snickers as they make their way to Bucky’s bedroom. Steve tries not to look around, but can’t help look at how similar Bucky’s set up is to his own. There are clothes everywhere and paper, and the bed isn’t made. Bucky launches himself down, trying to pull Steve with him.  
“Nope, not when you’re drunk Romeo”  
“Aww Steve”  
“Nope” He takes the bin from under the desk to put beside the bed, and then goes to the kitchen to grab a glass of water to put on the bedside.

“Thanks Steve” Bucky mumbles, getting himself comfortable after Steve’s taken off his shoes  
“You’re welcome” Steve resists from ruffling Bucky’s hair and leaves, latching the door on the way out after leaving the keys on Bucky’s desk.

Once in his own room, Steve grabs a piece of paper, scrawling a message onto it before sticking it to his window, leaving the curtains open. He gets into bed himself, dropping off quickly with a smile on his face.

//

Waking up in the morning is hell. Bucky’s head is screaming, and he gratefully gulps down the water by his bed and lies back down. Willing his stomach to calm down. It’s then that the last night comes back to him and then he does throw up. He made a fool of himself in front of Steve! He was too pushy and affectionate. Natasha and her stupid friend set this up. Steve would probably never speak to him again! He scowls, Clint probably had something to do with it too, and decides to try and get up to shower. He manages to get up, ignoring the massive head rush he faces and stumbles to his drawers to grab some comfy clothes.

On default, he looks out of his window as he passes and stills, there was piece of paper stuck to Steve’s window.

_I would totally have gone to bed with you if you weren’t stinking drunk_  
  
It reads and Bucky actually laughs. He gets dressed as quickly as he can and goes over to Steve’s.

He knocks loudly on Steve’s door and the scrawny man opens with a yawn. He’s rubbing his eyes under his glasses  
“You’re a fucking punk do you know that”  
“Have you stopped throwing up yet?” Steve just grins up at him, blinking sleepily in a way that matched Bucky’s.  
“You gonna kiss me if I say yes?”  
“Maybe”  
“Oh fuck you.”

They kiss right there in the hall. And it’s everything that both of them expected it to be.


End file.
